Black Lotus interview with LIV JAGRELL of SISTER SIN

Gothenburg, Sweden’s hard rocking traditional metal quartet, Sister Sin, is set to release its fifth full length studio album for Victory Records. The new record, Black Lotus will hit retailers and digital outlets on October 27, and finds the band pushing into heavier and darker territory than previous efforts.

Sister Sin was founded in 2002, and released its debut record, Dance of the Wicked in 2003. The band, which features vocalist Liv Jagrell, guitarist Jimmy Hiltula, drummer Dave Sundberg, and bassist Strandh, released its major label debut, Switchblade Serenades in 2008. The quartet recently re-issued Dance of the Wicked.

Metalholic last spoke to frontwoman Liv Jagrell shortly before the singer’s 2012 throat surgery and the band’s U.S. tour with Doro. We recently caught up with Liv again to get the skinny on Black Lotus; the songs, the artwork, and the attitude of the record.

Black Lotus sounds like a continuation as well as a progression from the band’s prior album, 2012’s Now and Forever. Jagrell shared her perspective on the new record:

“We always grow a little bit more into the metal scene for each record we do. But that our roots. It’s the really old kind of metal stuff. But also we get some inspiration from newer bands like Arch Enemy and In Flames and stuff like that too. I feel that we tried to get heavier on this record than the previous record. Also the production of it we draw to the heavier kind of sound, and I really like that because I’m into the heavy kind of music.”

Sister Sin had to step a bit out of its comfort zone for Black Lotus, trying some things they hadn’t previously due to limited time constraints.

“We had limited time in the studio comparing to previous records” shared Jagrell. “We had to find a way to make it work in the short amount of time that we had. So instead of doing the drums first, then bass, the guitar, and the vocals last, we actually did—well we did do the drums first of course, but then we kind of did vocals; and guitars we sometimes put after the vocals, and for us that was new. We had like two studios so we worked simultaneously. I think it was good that we did some of the guitars after the vocals because then we could actually work the guitars with the vocals better than we’ve done on the previous records. So that was kind of new.”

The first single off the new record is for the track “Chaos Royale”, the lyrics for which can be taken in different ways, but it is basically about the narcissist control freaks who seek to rule others or the world. Jagrell sheds some light on the band’s interpretation:

“You can listen to ‘Chaos Royale’ however you want to, but when we wrote that song it was with a very ironic idea of how the world is or how people tend to like to take over the world, and get the power. It sounds: It sounds good in the beginning but it’s not that good. So that song is definitely ironically meant. But actually it’s got a good swing to it. (laughs).”

Jagrell also talks about some of the other album tracks, the band’s mystery addition and deletion from this year’s Mayhem Festival, her desire to collaborate with Dee Snyder of Twisted Sister, and the band’s hopes for an upcoming American tour.

Check out the full interview below as well as the lyric video for “Chaos Royale”.

Black Lotus interview with LIV JAGRELL of SISTER SIN was last modified: April 30th, 2017 by Rustyn Rose